My 'Scoop' design was conceived a few years back and finally
put into practice in late 2006 in a prototype guitar now in use by Thomas Leeb.
The concept was to produce a practical cutaway which had minimal effect on the
way a guitar resonates. I always felt that normal cutaways removed far more
from the body than necessary because most people stretch out at an angle to
reach the highest notes, with their thumb still resting against the heel. My
final design was certainly influenced by the various arm bevels being produced
by makers such as Ryan and Laskin and also the beauty of curves intersecting
one another in my friend Alexander Batov's fluted back vihuelas but I sought
to produce the greatest simplicity and elegance of "form following function"
that I could. The development of the scoop cutaway went hand-in-hand with my
'New Standard' decoration scheme which echoes the ultimate simplicity I hope
I have created with this feature.

My alternative traditional 'Venetian' style (rounded not pointy)
cutaway gives a less radical look and may also be the only choice for players
very used to this style who might find the angled scoop necessitates a modification
to their hand position that they don't wish to make. I can also produce 'Florentine'
(pointy) cutaways or other custom styles, ask for a quote.

UPDATE
2011: I was always a bit surprised that no-one had apparently come up with the
same style of cutaway as the 'Scoop' in the past and was proved right recently
when someone very diplomatically pointed out that Theo Scharpach offers a very
similar option, certainly conceived before I had the idea, known as a 'Semi-Cutaway'
and applied to his classical model guitars. My version is deeper and generally
a different shape but the idea and way they are both executed are basically
the same as far as I can tell!

UPDATE January 2012: Faith Guitars has just released
a range of 'Scoop' cutaway guitars designed by Patrick James Eggle. The Faith
'Scoop' guitars have absolutely no connection with myself, Nick Benjamin, or
my design the 'Benjamin Scoop'. I have, as you see above, offered this feature
for five years very publically and pictures of the feature have been prominently
displayed in several high profile guitar magazines with the name 'Scoop' or
'Benjamin Scoop' ascribed to it. I have made no attempt to trademark the name
which, as far as I am aware, has not used commercially for any similar design
by any other manufacturer or individual (until now), perhaps I have been naive?